It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, August 21st. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Converse County Tourism Promotion Board! Discover Douglas and Glenrock in beautiful Wyoming, where rich history, outdoor adventure, and welcoming communities await. Feel the Energy of Converse County at www.ConverseCountyTourism.com.
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A Sublette County grand jury on Wednesday greenlit the indictment of Daniel man Cody Roberts for cruelty to animals, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of $5,000.
Roberts ran over a wolf with a snowmobile, brought it muzzled into a bar, then shot it in February 2024, according to videos and witness interviews. Although Roberts paid $250 last March toward a citation for violating Wyoming Game and Fish regulations against possessing wildlife, Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that he can still be charged with a different law for the same conduct — under certain criteria.
“A judge has to be satisfied that the elements of the crime with which he's now charged are different from the elements underpinning that citation… we actually see that the legal world quite a lot. And in the case of Cody Roberts, the grand jury met the final or the second and third week of August, and they ended by issuing a true bill, which is a green light for an indictment on felony animal cruelty, which is punishable by up to two years in prison.”
The incident with the wolf exploded into international headlines, sparking outrage across the globe from sportsmen and animal rights activists alike; and it put both the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Wyoming’s wildlife management laws under scrutiny.
Read the full story HERE.
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At nearly 120,000 acres and 28% contained, the Red Canyon Fire burning about 11 miles east of Thermopolis has been out of control and challenging to fight since it was ignited by lightning Aug. 13.
Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the next couple of days will be critical in trying to keep the wildfire in check as temperatures soar near triple digits and the fire makes its own erratic, dangerous weather.
“These wildfires, especially as they get larger, can, in a sense, create their own weather. And Don Day, our meteorologist, really explains it well… It's already hot outside. It's like nearing triple digits… So when it's already hot and dry out there, and then you have the heat from the fire, it just creates this little vortex… it's the same thing that creates a dust devil, only it pulls around the smoke and debris and stuff. And they could be really dangerous for people on the ground, for the air attacks. So it's not an insignificant thing, and there's been a lot of this spotted in the Red Canyon fire.”
At close to 120,000 acres, the fire’s total area is still growing, but at a much slower pace than several days ago when it exploded by tens of thousands of acres a day. It also remains a reported 28% contained, mostly along the fire’s western and northern fronts.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Carbon County Search and Rescue team stepped in to save the day for a mushroom forager hurt and stranded in a rugged and remote area of the Medicine Bow National Forest.
The man, who is in his 70s, and his wife had hiked into a far-flung spot in the Sheep Creek area north of the Platte Wilderness on Monday. Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that the man was in excellent shape, but he fell and suffered a devastating ankle injury that rendered him immobile, leaving him in severe danger.
“The wife had to hike three miles before she even find somebody with cell service to call for help. But they did get help in there. The Carbon County Sheriff told me that they had to use chainsaws just to clear a path to get the side by side up there. And they said, We're not going to get this guy out in time. You know, it's starting to get dark, so they called in a helicopter to actually pull the guy off the mountain, but everything turned out great for everyone.”
The Carbon County Search and Rescue team has been called out on several rescues this summer. Bakken said rescuers have been busy as more people have been getting outside this summer, going deep into the forests and mountains.
Read the full story HERE.
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After three weeks of searching in the Bighorn Mountains around Cloud Peak, the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office announced that it is suspending its search for missing Minnesota hiker Grant Gardner.
Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn announced the end of active Search and Rescue Wednesday evening. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the decision to call off the search was difficult for everyone involved.
“Grant Gardner summited Cloud Peak, the tallest peak in the Bighorns on July 29. He texted his wife to say that he had summited the peak, and he hasn't been seen or heard from since the search and rescue operation started on August 1… There could be additional operations in the future, as time and evidence allows, according to the statement from Sheriff Blackburn, but at this point, it'll be a recovery rather than a rescue. So it's disappointing and frustrating for the volunteers who are involved.”
Grant Gardner was not an amateur. His wife, Lauren, said her husband was an experienced outdoorsman who anticipated and was prepared for the challenge of summiting Cloud Peak. Nevertheless, the high elevation of Cloud Peak poses a formidable challenge, even for experienced mountaineers.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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Waiting on a $250,000 reimbursement for providing security at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, while also kick-starting a partnership with immigration authorities, leaves Wyoming National Guard leaders worried about getting that money.
That’s what the Guard’s adjutant general told legislators this week. Gov. Mark Gordon is authorizing the activation of up to 15 Wyoming National Guard members to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, personnel with its missions. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that that’s going to require some money shifting.
“The guard… gets millions from the state, but many more millions. I mean, we're talking like at least 90% from the feds, according to the numbers that they gave me Wednesday. And so… the Adjutant General on Monday was telling lawmakers like, we have not been reimbursed for helping secure the President's inauguration, and now we are being shifted in to help ICE…. they're kind of bracing themselves like… Do we have to cut back on other business because we are short from inauguration and we're bracing to help ice with things around the state?”
In the partnership with ICE set to begin next month, the state guardsmen would be in a “support” role rather than a law enforcement role, bolstering logistics, transportation, and administrative functions.
Read the full story HERE.
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An archery hunter trying to fill his Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ewe hunting tag in southcentral Wyoming ended up with what could be considered the trophy bighorn ram of a lifetime.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Laramie resident Ethan Overton didn’t shoot the ram. Instead, he found the huge “deadhead” — an intact skull and horns — while stalking his ewe.
“Him and his buddy were stalking, or had started a stalk for archery shot at a ewe that they had spotted, and he came across what they call a deadhead, which is an intact horn and skull of a gigantic ram that had, to the best of his estimation, probably died two years before, and so it just like he ended up getting a trophy ram without actually hunting one. But of course, he had to go through the procedure. Did the right thing. He took pictures of it and put a GPS pin on it. Then called Game and Fish, Game and Fish came out, looked at it, cleared it for him. He purchased an interstate game tag from them, and because he jumped the hoops and did the right thing, it was therefore his to take home.”
Intact deadheads of any species are rare finds and can have monetary value as collector’s items, sometimes selling for several thousand dollars apiece.
Read the full story HERE.
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The lawsuit in which a licensed professional counselor accused a Casper-based psychiatrist of frequent sexual harassment, and making lewd comments about patients, has been resolved and dismissed without a trial.
Former Wyoming Behavioral Institute employee Shawna Punteney filed her federal civil complaint February of 2024, accusing WBI psychiatrist Dr. David Martorano of “intentional, sexually charged behavior” at work. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the allegations were that the behavior was, quote, “outrageous and extreme to a degree beyond all possible bounds of decency.”
“Shawna Punteney alleged last year that, you know, he had, that he'd made this toxic workspace and would say lewd things about patients and comment on her anatomy… they did undertake the arbitration efforts and reported periodically to the court, and then, here recently they were like, Okay, we're done. This matter is resolved. And usually when I see that, and especially when no one wants to talk about the case afterward, it tends to mean that there's a settlement that requires confidentiality.”
U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson dismissed the lawsuit July 29 at the request of all parties, who’d announced the day prior that Punteney’s claims were “resolved.”
Read the full story HERE.
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There’s a white husky, lost and afraid, in the Wind River Mountains. All he wants is to find his way home, and his family wants him home so much that they're willing to throw a big bone to his rescuer in the form of a $1,000 reward.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Beo, a 7-year-old Siberian husky, is only kind of lost. People keep seeing him, and reporting his whereabouts, but no one has managed to catch him to take him home.
“A family was hiking on the Big Sandy trail in the Wind River Mountains, and their husky, apparently, he crossed a river and was either too scared to cross it again or couldn't find the same spot to cross it again. So the family and the dog were separated by a bunch of water, and then he disappeared… So the Christensen family wants their dog back. They're offering $1,000 reward, and said… they've received a lot of calls from people just saying they've seen him. Some people have even given him food to ensure they doesn't have to sustain himself in the wild. And that's all been very helpful, because it gives the family of where the go to find him, and they're hoping that they're going to get him back sooner, rather than later.”
The Christensens feel as if they have lost one of their own, and are doing everything possible to spread the word and get him home.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
